On the semiotics of gestures

Learning and teaching mathematics requires the activation of a variety of resources, which can be grouped around what I consider to be two chief sources of mathematics knowledge: the body and its activity with artifacts, and the activity with signs. The cognitive significance of the body has become one of the major topics in current psychological and cognitive studies. In particular, the ―Embodied Mind paradigm (Lakoff & Núñez, 2000) has situated the origins of all human knowledge—mathematics included—in bodily experiences and perceptions. On the other hand, knowledge formation is embedded in cultural and social contexts, and the use of signs becomes crucial in cognition. Such a polarity results in being of particular interest in the context of the teaching and learning of mathematics, a discipline traditionally considered ―abstract‖ on the one hand, and extensively based on perceivable signs on the other. Many studies in mathematics education research have framed teaching and learning activity within semiotic perspectives, focusing on written semiotic systems such as algebraic symbolism. Only recently has attention been dedicated to considering bodily means of expression as semiotic resources in the learning process, and to looking at their relationship to written mathematical symbolism (see for instance Radford, Bardini & Sabena, 2006 on the role of rhythm in the context of algebraic generalization). In this chapter, I focus on the contribution of gestures to the mathematics teaching-learning processes in the classroom context. The role of gestures will be outlined by situating them as semiotic resources and looking at how they are closely intertwined with more traditionally studied semiotic systems (such as language and written signs).